Artifacting

Putting I Between Art And Facts

lists

Emo For Emo’s Sake

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Rolling Stone has taken a shot at listing the 40 Best Emo Albums of all time. Emo seems to a pretty polarizing genre so I suspect many will have trouble with the list (and some will even protest it’s existence). There are always problems with lists like this, but this one seems pretty darn solid to me.

The top 10 rounds out like this:
10. My Chemical Romance, ‘Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge’ (2004)
9. Fall Out Boy, ‘From Under the Cork Tree’ (2005)
8. Jimmy Eat World, ‘Bleed American’ (2001)
7. Cap’n Jazz, ‘Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports …’ (1995)
6. American Football, ‘American Football’ (1999)
5. Braid, ‘Frame and Canvas’ (1998)
4. Jawbreaker, ‘Dear You’ (1995)
3. The Promise Ring, ‘Nothing Feels Good’ (1997)
2. Rites of Spring, ‘Rites of Spring’ (1985)
1. Sunny Day Real Estate, ‘Diary’ (1994)

For the uninitiated here is a primer called “What the heck *is* emo, anyway?”

Definitive List Of Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet Part 2015

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Greg Rutter is at it again with his annual Definitive List Of Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet. The lists seem to get shorter and short as the years go by with this list clocking in at only 47 entries (I’ll try to add some deserving entries when I get the time). However, like earlier years, every link is a worthwhile link. A great way to waste away your winter break.

01) Dover Police Dash Cam Confessional
02) Ship Your Enemies Glitter
03) Selena Gomez Prom Invite
04) RC Millennium Falcon
05) Cat Jumps Through Snowbank
06) Dr. Phil With No Dialogue
07) Cantore Thundersnow
08) What Color Is The Dress
09) Llama Drama
10) Justin Bieber’s Carpool Karaoke
11) Himalayas From 20,000 Feet
12) Hype Man Duties
13) Zoolander at Valentino Show
14) Robert Downey Jr. Delivers A Bionic Arm
15) Earl Sinclair Performs “Hypnotize”
16) Left hanging when you need the answers on a test
17) Why the f*ck you lying
18) Drake’s Hotline Bling
19) Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
20) Father Invites Stepfather Down The Aisle
21) Attention Kmart Shoppers
22) Rejected Pepto Bismol Superbowl Ad
23) Man In The Giant Waterballoon
24) Babboon With Computer
25) Duck Army
26) Father Daughter Beatbox Battle
27) Chuck Esterly’s Stand Up Debut
28) Peanut Butter Baby
29) Obama Reads Mean Tweets
30) Tee Ball Bat Flip
31) Later That Same Life
32) The Dancing Doge
33) An Irishman In Las Vegas
34) Pizza Rat
35) Company is coming
36) Holy Mother Nikki
37) Adele At Adele Impersonation Contest
38) Chairbacca
39) The Last Message Received
40) Pelican Learns To Fish
41) U2 Busks On The Subway
42) Silento- Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)
43) Plastic Ball Prank
44) Guy Has Seisure While Skydiving
45) Merry Christmas Starbucks
46) This Damn Ass Rock
47) Cats Vs Cucumbers

Top 10 Most Banned Books: 2014

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For the past many years, during Banned Books Weak, I have put together a list of the top ten most banned books of the previous year. Out of 311 challenges (a slight increase from the 307 challenges reported in 2013) as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, here are the top ten:

2014

  1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
    Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence. Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”
  2. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi
    Reasons: Anti-family, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “promotes the homosexual agenda”
  3. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
    Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
  4. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
    Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “contains controversial issues”
  5. It’s Perfectly Normal (The Family Library), by Robie H. Harris
    Reasons: Nudity, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group. Additional reasons: “alleges it child pornography”
  6. Saga, Vol. 1, by Brian K. Vaughan
    Reasons: Anti-Family, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
  7. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
    Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited to age group, violence
  8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
    Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “date rape and masturbation”
  9. A Stolen Life: A Memoir, by Jaycee Dugard
    Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group
  10. Drama, by Raina Telgemeier
    Reasons: sexually explicit

Click these links if you are looking for the top 10 lists for previous years with easy links to Amazon: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001.

Additionally, in 2010, I put together a list of the 100 Most Banned & Challenged Books Of The Decade by aggregating several lists from the American Library Association.

The 25 Least Visited Countries In The World

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Here is a moderately surprising list of the 25 least visited countries in the world. North Korea doesn’t even make the list (because of a mostly Chinese tourist base). Why some countries are less visited than others varies, but location, travel related logistics, costs, visa availability, degree of war and governments or lack thereof all matter. Here is the top ten with their approximate annual number of tourist visitors:

10. Turkmenistan: 8,697
9. Guinea-Bissau: 7,500
8. Libya: 6,250
7. Kiribati: 6,000
6. Equatorial Guinea: 5,700
5. South Sudan: 5,500
4. Marshall Islands: 4,600
3. Tuvalu: 1,200
2. Somalia: 400 visitor
1. Nauru: 160 visitors

That would make on heck of a bucket list. The author Gunnar Garfors has visited 198 countries and shares some of his experiences in traveling to these far-flung and rarely visited countries.

Mad Men Reading List

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The New York Public Library (NYPL) has created a Mad Men Reading List, a collection of 25 titles read by the main characters during the course of the series. These titles are a great way to gain insight into the social and cultural eras in which the series takes place.

DON DRAPER’S PICKS

ROGER STERLING’S PICK

JOAN HARRIS’S PICK

BERT COOPER’S PICK

  • Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
    (Episode 108 “The Hobo Code”)

BETTY DRAPER’S PICKS

PETE CAMPBELL’S PICKS

SALLY DRAPER’S PICKS

LANE PRYCE’S PICK

HENRY FRANCIS’S PICK

Billy Parrott has also written a more comprehensive blogpost that lists books seen on shelves and lying around on tables during the show.

Definitive List Of Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet Part 2014

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Greg Rutter has once again created a definitive list of the 99 things you should have already experienced on the internet unless you’re a loser or old or something. Once again, it is a little YouTube heavy, me thinks. But it still a great way to burn an evening. There are a bunch on this years list that I haven’t seen yet. Maybe I really am getting old or something.

01) First Kiss
02) Apparently Kid
03) Hater Blockers
04) The Ice Bucket Challenge
05) In My Mum’s Car
06) Swedish Soldier’s “Greased Lightning”
07) Skateboarding Cat
08) Mr. Pimp Goodgame
09) Kayden and Rain
10) Runner Falls In The Snow After Interview
11) Shia LaBeouf – Live
12) Climbing The World’s Second Highest Tower
13) Snowboarding NYC
14) Brian Williams Sings “Rapper’s Delight”
15) Twitch Plays Pokemon
16) 10 Hours Of Walking In New York As A Woman
17) Cleaning Dancing Roommate
18) Seth Rogen’s Alzheimer’s Senate Testimony
19) Fake Chef Pranks Morning TV Shows
20) Glow Stick Blows Up In Kid’s Face
22) Two Women Caught Stealing Canopy On Beach
22) The Camera In The Mirror
23) Barack Obama’s Between Two Ferns
24) The Ice Cream Van
25) Demon Baby Attack
26) Good Looking Parents Sing “Love Is an Open Door”
27) Superman With A GoPro
28) Andrei Linde Celebrates Physics Breakthrough
29) KTLA Anchors React To Earthquake
30) Louis C.K. and Bradley Cooper
31) Grandmas Smoking Weed For The First Time
32) I Might Boycott Bath And Body Works Rant
33) BASE Jump From The Freedom Tower
34) Instant Karma
35) Action Movie Kid
36) Slow Life
37) Coke + Nutella + Mentos + Durex ITALIA world record
38) Circle Of Life On Flight Home
39) When Mom Isn’t Home
40) Classroom Phone Call April Fools Prank
41) Kids React To The Walkman
42) The Futility Of Existence
43) Kicked In The Head By A Train
44) Baby Conducts Choir
45) Dog Carjacking
46) Reveal To Grandpa
47) Tiny Hamsters Eating Tiny Burritos
48) 100 Days Of Dance
49) Tempura Shrimp Canon
50) Shovel Fight
51) Ellen’s Oscar Selfie
52) Three Year Epic Selfie
53) My Cat Saved My Son
54) Bunny Eating Rasperberries
55) 300 Sandwiches
56) Amazing Jam Session
57) 26 Country Proposal
58) Aug(de)mented Reality
59) Basejumping Dog
60) Luigi Death Stare
61) Full Cycle Inside A Dishwasher
62) Blatant Racism In Cheektowaga, NY
63) Sir Mix-A-Lot With The Seattle Symphony
64) All By Myself
65) Musicless Music Video: Dancing In The Streets
66) Fireworks Filmed With A Drone
67) F*ck Her Right In The P*ssy
68) I Dare You To Watch This Entire Video
69) Pallate Surfing
70) An Oscar-Worthy Toddler Tantrum
71) Zach King’s Magic Vines
72) Sadie Doesn’t Want Her Brother To Grow Up
73) British NFL Commentary
74) Things You Can’t Do When You’re Not A Toddler
75) Seal Wants To Surf
76) Been Walking Up Late For Some Reason
77) Between Two Ferns: Brad Pitt
78) People Power Frees Man Trapped By Train
79) The Gap by Ira Glass
80) East Hills Mall Back To School Commercial
81) Wisdom Teeth Ice Bucket Challenge
82) That J Crew Gingham Shirt
83) Run, Walter, Run!
84) Mascot Traffic Accident
85) Grandpa and Grandmaster Flash
86) Mutant Giant Spider Dog
87) Jam Session Bat Attack
88) First iPhone 6 Gets Dropped
89) You Poked My Heart
90) Dog Thinks Terrace Door Is Closed
91) I Smell Like Beef
92) Kid Goes Diva
93) Auto-complete Song
94) Love At First Touch
95) Dallas Airport Homophobe
96) Walking On Clean Ice In Slovakia
97) Coyote & Crow Dance
98) Crash And Burn Weezer Cover
99) iPhone 6 Plus Bend Test

I always try to add a few that I think Greg Missed, so here you go:
100) Deez Nuts